The Internazionali BNL d’Italia tennis tournament continues with second-round action from Rome on Wednesday and so do our tennis picks. On Tuesday, we had a very successful day as we went 3-0 with our tennis picks. The easiest of the bunch was Serena Williams, who was a massive chalk against Anna-Lena Friedham. She didn’t disappoint, though, winning in straight sets. We also had Timea Bacsinszky to get the job done against Yanina Wickmayer. The German was only able to muscle away four games, though, as she lost in straight sets. Lastly, we had Carla Suarez-Navarro to move on and she did exactly that. Facing Teliana Pereira, she wasn’t challenged much. She won the first set 6-1 before outlasting her 7-5 in the second set.
The next five days will form the final main pieces in shaping the backdrop to the French Open. There’s a lot at stake before most of these players take the following week off to rest before the biggest clay-court tournament of the whole year.
Lucie Safarova vs. Misaki Doi
This is a tricky matchup for a reason which is not even connected to tennis. Safarova had to withdraw from the Madrid Open last week due to food poisoning. She’s obviously healthy enough to play in Rome this week, but after a case of food poisoning, the body could certainly be weak, and it might not respond properly to vigorous athletic exertion. Safarova is therefore an extreme wild card. If it turns out that she’s fully fit, and not merely fit enough to step onto the court, she should win. If she’s a lot worse than many suspect and just can’t muster any real strength, she’ll lose. The chances are that she falls in between categories and will therefore play a very close match. She’ll be sluggish enough to give Doi a chance to win, but she’ll be effective enough to pull out the match in the end. Take Safarova by a small margin. Take her with your tennis picks.
Pick: Safarova in three sets
Venus Williams vs. Timea Babos
This is a tough match to predict for a number of reasons, one of them being that Venus Williams has not played a lot of matches in recent months. This is partly the result of not playing all that many tournaments, but it’s also the product of not playing a lot of matches in the recent tournaments she has entered. It’s hard to build any momentum when you’re losing in the first or second round. This is how players accumulate rust on the tour and fail to play their watch into match shape. Venus did win her first-round match in Rome, so that should increase the chances that she can play her way into form this tournament. Babos has scored some wins with varying levels of quality this season. She’s gained a few victories over upper-level players, but not enough to make her the clear favorite in this match, which very much seems to be up for grabs. Both players are relatively mysterious within the workings of the WTA Tour. Venus, having won in the first round, gets a tiny edge in what is basically a coin-flip match. Take a shot with Venus Williams with your tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Venus in three sets
Petra Kvitova vs. Madison Keys
This is a match which might go three sets, but will probably feature sets that do not last very long, in terms of both games and the length of points. Kvitova and Keys both crush the ball. They go big or go home. They try to hit winners very early in points. They don’t rally by hitting balls at three-quarter speed. Both are erratic, in keeping with their go-for-broke styles, so it’s hard to get a good read on either player. This is clay, however, and Keys – an American – is just not comfortable on the surface. Kvitova therefore deserves an advantage. Go with Kvitova with your tennis picks here.
Pick: Kvitova in three sets
